Hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor (HIMF/FIZZ1/RELM alpha) recruits bone marrow-derived cells to the murine pulmonary vasculature

• Published in: PloS one 2010-06, Vol.5 (6), p.e11251-e11251
• Main Authors: Angelini, Daniel J, Su, Qingning, Kolosova, Irina A, Fan, Chunling, Skinner, John T, Yamaji-Kegan, Kazuyo, Collector, Michael, Sharkis, Saul J, Johns, Roger A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actin; Anesthesiology; Animal models; Animals; Atherosclerosis; Blood vessels; Blood Vessels - cytology; Blotting, Western; Bone marrow; Bone Marrow Cells - cytology; Bone Marrow Transplantation; c-Kit protein; Cardiovascular Disorders/Pulmonary Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Disorders/Vascular Biology; CD34 antigen; Cell Biology; Cell migration; Cells (biology); Chemotaxis; Critical care; Dependovirus - genetics; Drug dosages; Etiology; Female; Fluorescence; Gene transfer; Genetic engineering; Genetic Vectors; Green fluorescent protein; Hypertension; Hypoxia; Hypoxia - physiopathology; Immunohistochemistry; In vivo methods and tests; Inflammation; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - genetics; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - physiology; Kinases; Laboratories; Lung - blood supply; Lungs; Medicine; Mesenchyme; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Mitogenic factor; Nitric oxide; Osteoprogenitor cells; Pathogenesis; Polyclonal antibodies; Pulmonary arteries; Pulmonary hypertension; Rodents; Smooth muscle; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Transgenic mice; Transplants & implants
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011251

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease of multiple etiologies with several common pathological features, including inflammation and pulmonary vascular remodeling. Recent evidence has suggested a potential role for the recruitment of bone marrow-derived (BMD) progenitor cells to this remodeling process. We recently demonstrated that hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor (HIMF/FIZZ1/RELM alpha) is chemotactic to murine bone marrow cells in vitro and involved in pulmonary vascular remodeling in vivo. We used a mouse bone marrow transplant model in which lethally irradiated mice were rescued with bone marrow transplanted from green fluorescent protein (GFP)(+) transgenic mice to determine the role of HIMF in recruiting BMD cells to the lung vasculature during PH development. Exposure to chronic hypoxia and pulmonary gene transfer of HIMF were used to induce PH. Both models resulted in markedly increased numbers of BMD cells in and around the pulmonary vasculature; in several neomuscularized small (approximately 20 microm) capillary-like vessels, an entirely new medial wall was made up of these cells. We found these GFP(+) BMD cells to be positive for stem cell antigen-1 and c-kit, but negative for CD31 and CD34. Several of the GFP(+) cells that localized to the pulmonary vasculature were alpha-smooth muscle actin(+) and localized to the media layer of the vessels. This finding suggests that these cells are of mesenchymal origin and differentiate toward myofibroblast and vascular smooth muscle. Structural location in the media of small vessels suggests a functional role in the lung vasculature. To examine a potential mechanism for HIMF-dependent recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells to the pulmonary vasculature, we performed a cell migration assay using cultured human mesenchymal stem cells (HMSCs). The addition of recombinant HIMF induced migration of HMSCs in a phosphoinosotide-3-kinase-dependent manner. These results demonstrate HIMF-dependent recruitment of BMD mesenchymal-like cells to the remodeling pulmonary vasculature.